Childhood games… how they progress and advance as we get older. I remember playing
Duck-Duck-Goose in elementary school. We soon adjusted the game so that the chase encompassed the entire playground and the “chaser” had to full body tackle the “chase-ee.”
As time went on we found fun in playing “Ring-a-leave-e-o” or “Ring and Run." We also got more daring by ringing the front door and then running around the house to bang on the back door. Add a bag of flaming poop into the mix and high jinx will ensue.
Next stop… Manhunt! This is hide-and-seek with teams and a “jail.” The jail would be a tree or other object that a jailor could guard from 5 feet away. If a player tags his jailed teammates they could run and hide again. We expanded this from playing around a house as kids to a 6-block area with 10 people on each team. No boundaries for hiding. We were on rooftops of houses and local businesses, in people’s yards, up in trees, and under cars. Looking back, it’s a wonder we never got shot. I found a
Manhunt variation that sounds fun.
Even this expanded, as we got older. After playing roller hockey for some years we started using roller blades when they were made available in the early 1980s. Not only did we start playing manhunt on
rollerblades… but we also did so at night. The area was expanded to 10 square blocks but we stuck to sidewalks and roadways. It was tough climbing fences with ski boot like skates. We also tried this with BMX bikes but had too many crashes and injuries.
Getting back to roller hockey. We started playing in a parking lot behind a strip mall. Problem was we played full-contact with minimal padding. We used a tape puck (a roll of electrical tape) and the lot had stairwells on one side that led to the basements of the buildings… we had a few bad nights but most were fun. Hey, it kept us off the streets. I still remember playing in tee shirts in the middle of the winter. When we would stop to rest, steam would rise off our shoulders and head. How I didn’t catch pneumonia I will never know.
Remember I said that was behind a strip mall… well, we also used to hang out on the rooftops of those buildings. We also had the bright idea of playing roller hockey up there a few times. Luckily we never had an incident of someone going over the edge.
As we got older, our thoughts turned to
paintball as well as going to bars and
moshing to local heavy metal bands like
KRONIN and
COLD STEEL… oh, and picking up women (although back then they were “chicks and broads.”)
I still ride my bike on occasion and have my roller blades. I’ve gone skating maybe twice in the past 5 years. Maybe I’ll put them on and take a spin… but maybe I’ll put on some pads and a helmet first.
